First look: Speedy TT goes clubbing

FOLLOWING the introduction of its Roadster TT, Audi has just unveiled an all stops out clubsport quattro study evoking thoughts of the iconic speedster models that have populated German sportscar lore since the early days of Porsche.

The clubsport quattro is the first of the new-generation TTs to combine the 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder TFSI engine with Audi’s quattro four-wheel drive system.

Wound up to produce in excess of 227kW via a new intake manifold, the direct injection powerplant is more than 40kW ahead of the versions used in both the production four-cylinder TT and Australia’s just-launched S3.

The topless sportster comes with Audi’s S tronic six-speed direct-shift transmission allowing either full-automatic or manual control and able to shift in fractions of a second to out-perform regular manual transmissions.

The tubby gun metal grey, cropped-windscreen open-top Audi sports a massive, full-frame grille flanked with large air vents and topped by the four-ring company badge located on the bonnet. LED daytime running lights sit in a strip below the actual headlight lenses.

Along the sides, the remote-control doors have been stripped of external handles and exaggerated wheel arches frame seven-spoke 20-inch wheels wearing 265/30 tyres and exposing new, fadeless ceramic brakes with bright orange callipers. The track measurements are 80mm wider than other TT models.

The tiny wraparound windscreen barely rises above the car’s shoulder line and wraps around in a tapering sweep to terminate at the rear edge of the doors. Low-slung bulges behind the twin rollover hoops are kept to the same height as the seat backs.

At the back dual oval exhausts are connected by an easily visible stainless steel silencer sitting above a blade that “underscores the vehicle’s sports character”.

Inside, Audi has given the clubsport quattro TT an appropriately sporty ambience with racing bucket seats providing appropriate support and holding the two passengers in place via four-point, three-inch wide seat belts.

The instrument cluster features vertical needles with colour graphics, while the omission of irrelevancies such as an odometer or clock is consistent with a cut to the bone, purist philosophy.

Opening the bonnet, the clubsport quattro reveals a sparse, clean engine bay with a notable lack of visible cables, and auxiliaries and a boldly displayed engine free of the normal plastic cladding. The cross brace between the strut towers contains the coolant expansion tank, while the air-conditioning and charcoal figure have been relocated elsewhere and the ABS system resides in the cabin.

Audi says the clubsport quattro is the TT in its purest form and that the possibility of a small-series production run is being considered.